Chapter 21: The clock ticks, it never stops

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

~Matt’s POV~

I was incredibly nervous.

My attention was forcefully directed at the main activity I was assisting, while also offering help to the various clients passing by who asked about the products on display.

It was supposed to be a normal morning. One where things would’ve been perfect, if not for some recent developments that brought me to question things that, up until yesterday, I would’ve thought to know to heart.

Despite my desire to just keep myself away from discussing with the Bull Prime currently sitting beside me, I had to also spare him some few words over the topics of our usual conversation to avoid any suspicions.

How was life, were there any problems, why tomatoes sold more than carrots-

It was pretty simple. Extremely harmless.

But the large context that left me in a state of perpetual uneasiness over Minos’ own connection to this little conspiracy I had started to unravel was leaving me quite speechless on various occasions.

The man seemed very attentive about my attitude. I would even go as far as say that it was more than usual. He wasn’t actively probing for any unexpected reactions, but he was still offering a downright odd behavior over the lack of my morning chattiness.

I knew that offering any clues about my inner struggle would’ve warranted a situation I wasn’t sure would’ve been pleasant for me. It was a gut feeling I really couldn’t divert away from influencing my thoughts.

I stared at the wood-based stand, the one where the rest of the vegetables had been carefully placed by the various sections and groups they were part to. I tried smiling, but found out that it was difficult to get even a sliver of a smirk going with the nervousness burning softly within my chest.

I could still remember trying to ponder more about the situation, trying to tinker about with my phone over any information I was able to catch about Geecku.

Considering her current whereabouts and the undeniable closeness she had with the High Prime, there was no reason to not believe that there was actually something about her in the internet.

After a quick search that I had managed to attain alone and while dinner was still being prepared, the results that I ended up finding were sketchy at best.

Nobody went by ‘Geecku’. Or at least, people that were known by the large public.

I decided against asking Diana and Randal about this specific topic, as I felt that the situation surrounding the Lizard-like Prime’s name was far bigger than I was making it in my mind.

The two were clearly clueless about what was going on and, considering the complicated plot that I was slowly uncovering with careful approaches, I wasn’t keen in putting them in danger by offering this new clue about the circumstances that led me there.

While I was completely sure that I was somehow connected to the quirky Lizard because of the sheer amount of confusing memories having a younger version of the woman in my ‘sight’, I slowly started to see this very revelation as a curious omen.

Maybe my arrival here wasn’t truthfully the result of some simple reasoning.

The fact that I felt more and more familiar with the ‘bigger’ world around me was more than enough to dissuade any opposition to this idea, yet some speculations over the matter had ensued within my mind.

What if the motivation was something that was actually important for me to know? What if this wasn’t the first time that I had been thrown in this crazier Earth?

The more I pondered about the ‘soundless’ memories related to Geecku, the more I felt that I had to have been thrown in this different universe before now. I couldn’t give other explanations to the questions born from these new memories. Except for the one that had me actually visiting this dimension in my past.

But why- or when?

My brain continued hurting for some time over this new issue, and the talk I had with Ambar over the promise I made with Geecku regarding sending her some apples mere minutes after I had returned back to the house seemed to increase that very state of discomfort.

The Bear Prime seemed to lack any differences within her attitude that could’ve suggested any suspicions over the ‘unplanned’ conversation I had shared with her cheeky ward, and she seemed more concerned over the little promise I had with the Lizard prime.

Yet I couldn’t help but notice during that very ‘normal conversation’ filled with a curious amount of flirty comments, that there was something ‘wavering’ within the woman’s tone.

It felt odd, unexpected and… worrying. A concern mostly directed at me.

I couldn’t exactly explain why I felt so sure that it was a strange detail from the High Prime, but I trusted my own instincts over the matter and restrained myself from giving out any nervousness in my replies to her words.

After that very confusing day, I ended up facing the next, bigger obstacle.

Minos looking tense.

I could tell that it wasn’t because of anything born from recent events, or so I hoped it didn’t. Rather, he looked fairly interested in how quiet I was currently being, maybe a little suspicious over my lessening hold over the usual conversations.

Deciding against pushing more of this attitude for the sake of avoiding any unneeded escalations, I knew that I had to bring up a topic that would see the Bull Prime talk more than I needed to.

It had to be something that was more connected to him and not much at me. It had to be… indirect.

“So, have you been keeping up with calling your friends?” I asked with a calm tone, trying my best to hide my uneasiness. “I reckon that Grace was fairly determined to see you uphold that duty.”

Minos sighed, shaking his head and seemingly failing to grasp at the hidden meaning of this sudden turn within our discussion. “Every day. Same hour as usual.”

“That’s some devotion,” I admitted with a nod. “But now I feel compelled to ask for more. C’mon, anything you can spare from your conversations with the lovely family?”

For some reason, the brunet let out a brief snort, appearing amused about something I had said.

“Not much. Well… maybe something about Joy,” The Bull Prime spoke slowly, pondering over this very topic. “Do you remember when I first mentioned the Knights to you?”

I blinked at the strange twist, but still nodded at his query. “The ones that are responsible to keep up with those few Narakhan Tribes that make issues around the globe?”

“That’s correct. Well, mostly correct since most of the recruits are assigned to support roles,” Minos answered with a relieved tone, perhaps glad that I didn’t need a refresher. “Joy has been asking her father for training to become one for some time now.”

And now I could see what he was trying to mention with his overall positive mood.

“Kayin told her yes?” I suggested, getting a nod in return. “I suppose he’s experienced with that sort of stuff.”

“More than you can imagine,” The Bull Prime replied. “By the way, I think I’ve never told you about the three ranks for Knights.”

...Three ranks? So there were tiers among the various Knights? And three, like Star Wars’ Jedis?

Still, I kept quiet as Minos started to explain the fascinating topic with some extra details.

“There are the Acolytes. Those are the Knights-in-training that have yet to acquire any genuine experience and are meant to go through their pilgrimages to find their place in the world.”

I frowned. “Pilgrimages?”

“Young Knights have to explore the world and apprehend one or more of the twelve Crest Clans. They can decide to settle with one of them and then invest themselves in growing within the Clan they’ve chosen.”

“That sounds like an interesting and smart idea,” I commented with a surprised look. “I mean, this offers enough variety and capacity to choose so nobody is forced to stay one place or another. Plus, Field Experience is-”

“The Best experience,” He concluded for me with a sigh. “I’ve been an explorer myself.”

Pausing at this very instance, I was slightly impressed by the fact that Minos knew about this old saying that I myself had learned…

…

Wait, when did I learn that one from exactly?

Once again, I was forced to yank my thoughts away from the oddly blank spot within my head, and back in the still-open conversation.

“After the Acolytes have proven their worth and chose their final Clan, they are called to go through a test which is determined by the leader of the group as to display their worth before obtaining the title of Knight.”

Giving a solid nod, I saw nothing odd about it… except that there was one last rank that was supposedly beyond Knights.

High Knight? Supreme Knight?… Cooler Knight?

“The last category is fairly rare to encounter in a normal situation,” Minos continued with his explanation. “Dragon Knights are the ones that guard Crests the closest. They are some of the strongest Primes in the world. People with unwavering loyalty and determination to their important task.”

His red eyes stared at me with some curiosity, perhaps noticing the confused look that I was now sporting on my face at hearing the term.

Dragon Knight.

It sounded so… familiar. I think I’ve heard about it before from someone… in the past.

But I couldn’t let the Bull Prime know about this little development, thus, I shrugged at him and hummed.

“I was imagining a cooler title,” I pointed out dryly, trying to appear merely disappointed because of the name of such rank.

The brunet looked perplexed at this. “A cooler… title?”

“Yeah, I mean- Why ‘Dragon Knight’? Is their power somehow related to Dragons? Are they capable of becoming Dragons or-”

“I don’t think that’s possible. Turning into a dragon,” Minos replied tightly, surprisingly enough the topic getting him to think intensely over it.

“Well, then why are they called ‘Dragon Knights’? Why not… ‘Master Knights’, or ‘High Knights’?”

…

There was no response to my inquiries, and Minos seemed quite immersed in that very trail of thoughts that he failed to offer an answer to my questions.

“Minos?”

He tensed up a little. “Mh- oh right-” He coughed nervously and nodded. “If I’ve to be honest, I’m not sure why it was decided to bestow this name to the highest rank for Knights. From what I remem- I studied, it was first used by Primes before Prism’s destruction.”

“And there are no remaining artifacts that could help over this subject? I mean, I understand that the planet was destroyed but-”

“I think the Crests might know more about it,” Minos replied quickly, his ‘panic’ still there for me to be surprised and slightly amused about. “But it’s rare to see one nowadays.”

I stared at the brunet with a serious glance, trying to understand why this very matter had him this much flustered and ‘unknowing’ of the entire matter.

It was odd to remember that Minos’ knowledge about Prime’s culture wasn’t 100% accurate.

“Then, I guess it will be one of the few mysteries about Prism’s civilization that will stay unanswered,” I said while shrugging. “It’s one of the few things that technically don’t have an answer attached to it.”

The Bull Prime gave a slow nod to that, still affected by the lack of explanations that could’ve motivated the usage of the title.

We were both distracted by this large deviation I had masterfully obtained, and I continued to press some more on other topics of similar magnitude and kind up until we were done with selling the rest of the farm products.

Our return to Las Lindas was quick, quiet, yet still tense.

While the conversation had greatly lessened my worries about getting interrogated by the brunet, I now had nothing to offer to avoid unnecessary situations with my friend.

…

Can I even call him a friend now that I know that he was keeping some secrets from me? Secrets that were related to my current problem, about what had caused me to end up here in Neo-Earth.

Yet, much to my placid surprise, the Bull Prime seemed to be content with what had happened in the last few hours, bidding me a calm ‘farewell’ as he walked back towards the city once he had settled the empty carriage near the entrance.

I waited for a couple of minutes to look at his retreat. I was confused about his lack of interest in pursuing any further questioning from that occasion.

Once Minos was out of my sight, I proceeded to make my way back to the house, ready to see what Randy had decided to prepare for lunch.

Knowing that from this point onward things were going to be smooth for me, I felt my body easing the more steps I took towards ‘home’.

Opening  the front door, I walked inside and looked around before pacing slowly towards the kitchen.

There wasn’t much of the usual noise coming from the kitchen and the living room.

Truly an odd circumstance, considering that the Collie should’ve been preparing food at this specific time of the day. It was the normalcy within the daily routine.

Before I had the chance of entering the kitchen, I found myself stopping as I heard a loud ‘Thud’ coming from deeper within the house, towards where the bedrooms were located.

With my stance tensing up once again with immense concern, I rushed to check on what was going on and… I started to feel drowsy the more steps I took in that direction.

Then, I almost tripped on myself at a ‘buzzing’ sensation rising up in my mind.

It was sudden, almost enough to make me jump by surprise at the unpleasant effects of what looked to be some dark-purple miasma coming from Diana’s room. Despite the dreadful sight and harmful noise growing within my head, it didn’t stop me from reaching for the door and checking inside.

The very moment that I entered the bedroom, I felt the worst scenario possible materializing before my own eyes.

Randal was trying his best to aid his mother, the Cow Prime writhing in her bed in a moment of horrifying agony.

The Collie hadn’t noticed me, as to show how much he was paying his utmost attention to the old woman, his efforts in soothing her plight seemingly failing to work on the dreadful sight.

Making more steps toward the bed, my wide eyes caught on pretty quickly to the various dark marks spreading all over Diana’s face and arms. The sleeves of her shirt had been rolled up, revealing the full extent of the tainted marks.

The Curse was acting up again, this time the effects were much worse than the last time I had seen it in action. I could feel myself paling at the panic-worthy sight, but I still managed to reach the unoccupied bed side section opposite to where Randal was.

The younger Prime looked affected by the situation as his body was slouching. His eyes looked tired, and yet he was pushing his own limits to continue with his attempts.

Instead of lingering there without doing anything, I remembered when this had first happened and what I had done back then that ended helping her up.

Reaching down with my palm, I grasped at her hand tightly, hoping that this was actually going to work.

My prayers were indeed answered, as something started to happen just as I did that. Her body stilled, her marks twitching on her fur before slowly retreating back… and rushing through my arm.

Eyes going wide in shock at this unexpected development, I expected utter pain to greet me with the taint reaching for my body-

But the only thing that greeted me was numbness.

The world suddenly went dark, and I felt my head clearing up of any thoughts as I found myself standing alone before… something.

I could see a pair of massive eyes, red orbs burning fiercely before a curtain of dark smoke that just held a partial silhouette of what I was looking at.

The world felt cold. I felt shivers go down my spine as I continued to look at the monstrous figure, hoping that this was just an hallucination.

The humongous being snorted in dry amusement.

“So I was correct, you’ve indeed returned from where you once belonged,” The creature boomed with a terribly loud voice. “And just like before, you’re here to oppose my rule.”

I felt my throat drying up, but my body had gone rigid and guarded as I started glaring at the behemoth standing before me.

He tilted his head. “Once again, you, a little human, challenge my might. Once again… you prove to be as stubborn as when I first bestowed you with a glance.”

“W-Who are you? A-And why are-”

“Enough!” The voice was raised to a higher volume. “Ordering me? Commanding me with such a scandalous stutter? I don’t need to answer anything, especially to the one I consider my worst enemy.”

The smoke encroached towards me, threateningly so as I took a couple of steps back.

“Stop hurting Diana, you monster!” I finally yelled. “I know you’re responsible for this, but I will not allow you to hurt her any longer!”

…

“Ahahah,” The beast chuckled slowly, almost wheezing at my words before drawing a long sigh. “It’s amusing how you would still ‘threaten’ me while you lack your experiences, your memories… your friends. You’re but a speck of dust before me.”

“Yet I- I faced you before,” I rebuked without thinking, my mind growing fuzzier the more I stayed in this strange landscape of darkness. “And I’ve beaten you! I will do it once more it-”

“Arrogance isn’t suited for you, young man. Be wary, for this will truly be the last advice I shall gift you with,” The smoke-based monster interrupted with an annoyed tone. “With your return now confirmed, I will be watching the efforts for my own rebirth with trepidation. And our encounter- It will be legendary.”

Before I had the chance of retorting his comments, I felt my body wobbling about. My footing grew unstable, and my breathing turned itchy and desperate as I slowly but surely fell on the floor.

Because, while I had been feeling mostly fine in that meeting with the dark figure, my body had gone stiff and fallen to the floor once Diana’s plight had been beaten back.

Blood was slowly dripping from my lips, my consciousness faded away as Randal rushed to give me help.

And yet, during that very moment of fragility for my body, I felt my mind growing more wary and focused that something absurd had just occurred before me.

Something that provided another key to awaken what had long been forgotten.

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~Naerie’s POV~

The mansion was silent, and yet there was plenty of activity going on inside a certain young woman’s room as she went on with some heavy research.

It wasn’t the first time Naerie had gone through drastic lengths to try and solve complex mysteries. Yet this very case had gotten her worked up over the incredibly messy nature of the limitations imposed by her mother over it.

She had long accepted that there wasn’t much to do against the High Prime’s will over reducing the investigations over Matt Newcastle’s situation to a minimum.

Or at least, that had been the case up, until she had that close encounter with Geecku.

The serious tone adopted by the Lizard Prime, someone that the redhead had long deemed to be incapable of displaying anything beyond ‘amusing’ and ‘childish’, had been enough to knock some odd sense into her.

The interaction had been unexpected, incredibly shocking, but not as fierce and brutal as the one that her mother had been subjected to mere moments after the blue-haired woman had been done with her.

It was one of the rare times where Naerie was bestowed a full glimpse of two Crests fighting each other, albeit without weapons, as Geecku didn’t have any to use against her ‘enemy’ and the Crest of Wisdom wasn’t trying to hurt her close friend.

The brawl had occurred for some time, but eventually both had tired out, leaving the young Bear Prime to clean up the aftermath of that ordeal, a task that took her about five hours to complete.

Ambar had eventually decided that Geecku should’ve been told the truth while they enjoyed a ‘fun rendezvous by the local beach’, away from any listeners within the mansion… which included her daughter as well .

Left alone in her mostly-quiet home, Naerie decided to finally take a couple of minutes to ponder what had happened back in the previous day.

The sudden lashing out of the Crest of Life, the use of the term ‘buddy’ to define someone as simple as Matt-

She couldn’t still understand how a human had ended up befriending all the Crests at once.

There was a single occurrence where the group would reunite, but that was limited to just the Crests and their families, thanks to special boundaries created by Kate Aryoko.

The Gathering was considered a sacred meeting for the twelve Crests in the mixed culture of Neo-Earth. A time where the great heroes of Primekind and Humanity would meet up and spend some time together to think back about the past and the need to preserve peace in the present.

Naerie herself had been going at most of these reunions ever since she had recovered from ‘that’ accident, but she had never seen someone matching up with the figure and frame that she knew the human for.

And no humans had been present for that occasion either.

Trying to find any other meetings that she may have missed in the last decade, the young woman started to search for anything within the internet that could’ve helped in this matter.

Searching through the mainframe would’ve left a search history that wasn’t impossible to delete even with her high-degree permissions through the system, thus she was left to trust the vast and messy internet for this difficult task.

Two hours went by and multiple data was acquired through precise searching, going through all the available details of possible meetings that might have occurred between two or more Crests beyond the Gathering.

Only a small minority seemed to be confirmed reunions, with the rest being baseless rumors conceived by gossip magazines to besmirch the Crests’ public image.

Most of the accepted ‘encounters’ were limited to Ambar visiting some of the more known individuals, like Carmesi, Howl or even Xeánica because of her workplace.

After trying to find any correlation of a human matching with Matt’s features coming into contact with any of these individuals, Naerie decided that it was best to try to switch tactics early on, considering the lack of a trail through this method.

Turning away from that indirect research, her next step was to try and take a more direct approach with this situation, knowing that there were plenty of ‘prime witnesses’ that would provide some helpful information.

Yet some of those were hardly trustworthy considering their opinions over Naerie, Naerie’s opinions over those, and other different issues that just made it impossible to contact them.

The Crests were only twelve, but only a couple of them would be perfect to call and trust over the delivery of some answers to her multiple questions.

Her mother and Geecku were excluded immediately.

Carmesi wasn’t someone that she wished to share a conversation with, especially with how annoyed the woman was towards anyone related to her past.

Howl was married to Carmesi, and the Bear Prime didn’t need to have the former issue happen even there.

Feather barely used technology, the same could be said for Xeánica.

Minos was currently with the human and was keeping close contacts with her mother. From the Bull Prime himself, the redhead was aware that Grace would react ‘intensely’ if she discovered that something was ‘off’ about Matt.

Sem was always busy with his tiring work in the capital, with Bengala and Kate being respectively unreachable for similar but also different circumstances.

With that swift selection through logical elimination, Naerie narrowed the only candidate that she could trust into…

“Hi, dad,” She greeted with a small smile, waiting for Pulsar to finish his yawning while he got off from his bed.

“Oh, hello Naerie,” The Polar Bear Prime returned with a bigger smile, his eyes showing a little tiredness as he stood up to look properly at the communication device. “I wasn’t expecting you to call this suddenly.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to call this early,” The girl quickly apologized, her meek attitude being answered with a patient sigh from her father.

“It’s no problem, sweetie. I- Actually, I really had to get up early in the morning,” The man admitted with a nod. “Still, I guess that you aren’t calling just to check on your old man, aren’t you?”

She tensed a little, starting to feel nervous over the matter but still letting out a slow nod at that quick development.

“There is something that I need to ask you about. Something that… I don’t want mom to know about, and it’s connected to your past,” The young woman muttered with a hint of uneasiness. “It’s important.”

Pulsar blinked at these words, his body straightening up as he gave even more attention to his daughter.

“Truly? And why shouldn't your mother know about it?” He asked with some intrigue. “Did Ambar make some mess… again?”

Naerie shook her head at that. “Not this time. It’s not something about mom but… there is this strange case that she said is connected to all Crests.”

“All of us? Anything about the emperor- you know if it’s dangerous, perhaps you should trust your mother-”

“It’s not about the Emperor,” The girl interjected with some more pressure. “It’s… it’s about a human.”

…

“Oh? A human?”

She nodded. “It’s someone that ended up appearing three weeks ago in Gossamer. Minos has been keeping an eye on him, and mother said that he is a trustworthy friend that-”

“What is his name?” Pulsar cut shortly the explanation, his eyes sporting a strange glint.

“Matt Newcastle.”

The redhead had expected a reaction from her father, just not as strong as the one that she ended up getting.

“Oh- OH! So- wait, he is back and-” The Crest of Ice paused to let out a brief chuckle. “To think that he would actually return. He was never gone!”

… “Dad?”

The man seemed to recover at her voice, his body regaining some of the previous composure, but his smile gaining even more happiness at these news.

“Sorry, starry-bear,” The Polar Bear Prime apologized. “It’s just that I can’t believe that Teo is in Neo-Earth.”

Naerie looked confused at this new name. “Teo?”

“I suppose you’re calling to ask more about him? I guess it’s alright considering-” Another pause, this time a frown adorning his face. “Wait, why would your mother not want to tell anyone about this? Is there something wrong with Matt?”

The girl was silent for a couple of seconds, recovering from the swift words coming from her father, but then she sighed. “He is amnesiac. He doesn’t remember anything about… his past here.”

…

“That’s- That’s actually pretty bad,” Pulsar muttered, suddenly deflating at this revelation. “Still, you’re calling to know more about him. I guess he can sound-”

“He is nice,” The redhead commented calmly.

A smile resurfaced at the words. “He was always like that, a nice guy with a big heart,” The man hummed in agreement. “The story about him is quite lengthy, and I don’t think I can give you much other than the basis about it considering how impactful his presence was during the war.”

…

“The war?” Naerie inquired with barely-veiled shock. “But- Dad, that can’t be. The war happened-”

“Centuries ago,” He concluded for her, a slow sigh leaving his lips. “And only members of the royal family, Crests and their Dragon Knights have lived long enough to be still there and narrate the tales of War against the Emperor… and the Grand Knight that aided us in the final years of that conflict.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at that very detail, as the biggest of questions was finally solved with that very subtle correlation.

Not only did this lessen the massive burden of unawareness she had over the case, but now she knew why this entire situation was being handled so carefully by her mother and… why both Minos and Geecku had been affected by this discovery so radically.

“To be fair, I might be missing some of the super-early bits of his story. There’s a gap where he was still wandering around the galaxy to try and reach Earth which I’m not completely sure I know well about,” Pulsar added with a hum. “I would’ve suggested for you to contact Carmesi but… she would probably cause a mess if she discovered this. I hope you didn’t tell anyone else about this.”

The girl shook her head, this confirmation further easing the Crest of Ice’s worries as he started to narrate what he knew about the young blond-haired human that had done so much to irritate the Emperor, but also speed up the original Gathering.

And the more Naerie listened to the words coming from her father, the more she felt interested in knowing more about the odyssey that saw a big chapter of the War starting with four words.

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AN

Nine days are left, things are going to pick up rather fast.

Do you really think that Naerie would actually go around my back for some ‘investigation’?

...Didn’t she?

Sure, there have been moments of rebelliousness from her puberty but- it wasn’t ‘that’ bad.

Forgive me for calling you out about it, but you seem actually saddened that she hasn’t gone to do something truly rebellious.

You really don’t know the pains and struggles of a mother wanting to seriously chide her lovely daughter.

Now, that sounds-

Let’s move on to the fact that Carmesi will have a primary role early on in the prequel.

I would like to-

Discuss this in private? Sure thing~!

Wait, no-

[The Author would end up found hours after this registration was found. Another traumatic experience for sure. A happy one indeed.]